Listen

God will judge between the nations, and settle disputes of mighty nations. Then they will beat their swords into iron plows and their spears into pruning tools. Nation will not take up sword against nation; they will no longer learn how to make war. Come, house of Jacob, let’s walk by the Lord’s light.

Think

“They will no longer learn how to make war.” No longer learn. The word learn implies that there is a teacher and a student. There is someone passing on a lesson, instructing a set of skills. Then there is someone receiving that lesson, practicing those skills. And so it gets passed on and on and on.

God sees in a way that we cannot see. God sees the many years, the many lives, the great toll that war takes. We see the recent past and the NOW.

What would it mean for us, for you, to learn how to make peace? To be a teacher of hope and a student of mercy?

Maybe we need to begin, yet again, to be students of God. To take our lessons from the great teacher God gave us in Jesus. To give grace to the one whom we call “enemy.” To open our homes to the stranger – with the awesome possibility of new life coming from that gesture of hospitality. To feed hungry people.

The “lessons” are already there. The teacher has already arrived. The students… we are ready.

Pray

God of love, you show me the paths to peace. I can see that the roads are long, steep, and sometimes out of sight. But you go with me, God. You are teaching me, God. I can learn, God. I can learn to make things other than war. May we make your kingdom, your vision, your peace, our reality. Amen.